War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 198 A Temporary Friendship

On the speeding sleigh cart, Conon's groans became weaker and weaker, and the gauze covering his eyes was covered with bright red areas.

But at such a time, heavy snow fell on the top of the head again, and even the biting northeast wind became more and more manic, as if it would not stop until all the animal skin blankets on everyone were blown away.

However, this strong wind also has a good side. At least running downwind saved the two reindeer a lot of energy, and the speed of the sleigh being towed by them became faster and faster.

However, all of this was nothing to Markla who was driving. At this time, his focus was on the rut that he had been chasing. This rut ​​passed through the forest and across the frozen lake. Eventually we entered a winding gorge that leeward.

As the sleigh vehicle advanced, the mountain walls on both sides of the canyon became higher and higher, and the area of ​​snow accumulated on them became larger and larger, while the ruts they were chasing became deeper and clearer.

The three people who were still awake on the sleigh were all nervous. Carl was nervous about the avalanche that might happen on both sides of the mountain at any time. Wei Ran was nervous about whether there would be conflicts and firefights after catching up with the Germans. As for Markla, he was nervous Not only these two points, but also Conon who may die at any time.

"Snapped!"

Marka shook the reins and lashed the fat buttocks of the two reindeer fiercely. Under the sudden pain, the two big guys who had been running for a long time accelerated their speed again.

Finally, when they turned a corner in the canyon, they finally vaguely saw a half-track armored ambulance.

"Give me Conon's gun and ID, and hide his broken book." Markla said while controlling the reindeer to slow down.

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately took out his gun and documents from Conon and handed them to Markla, and then hung the camera on his neck around his neck with peace of mind, and the one with the words Pravda on it He threw the plastic leather notebook out of the sleigh without any pressure.

Almost at the same time as he finished his work, the sled slowly came to a stop under the submachine guns of a middle-aged doctor in a white coat and a young soldier.

Marka glanced at the big rock that hit the hood of the half-track armored ambulance, and asked with a normal expression, "My friend, do you need our help?"

"friend?"

The middle-aged doctor looked at Markla sarcastically, and sneered in proficient Finnish, "Then, this friend who has betrayed our friendship, how are you going to help me? Use the anti-tank door on your sleigh Give us a shot?"

As if he didn't see the submachine gun in the opponent's hand, Marka said with a normal expression, "If I wanted to do that, I would have done it dozens of kilometers away, instead of running so far with you all the way."

"You have been following us?" The middle-aged doctor frowned.

"I have been following you since Luoxi Niwa"

Marka said truthfully, "I thought you would enter the Swede's chassis in Muonio, but I didn't expect you to come to the northwest."

"Why are you following us?" The middle-aged doctor asked seriously.

Markla spread his hands, "It's better than the Soviets following you, isn't it? We may not be friends anymore, but at least we are not enemies."

"Not an enemy?" The middle-aged doctor pointed to the ambulance behind him, "If we are not an enemy, how can those wounded be explained?"

Marka sighed, "I don't know, I don't know how it suddenly became like this."

The middle-aged doctor was taken aback when he heard the words. After a moment of silence, he finally put down the submachine gun in his hand, and said desolately, "Your choice is right. It is the wisest choice to withdraw from this war as soon as possible."

In the gorge where the wind was howling and the snow was blowing heavily, the young soldier standing behind the middle-aged doctor finally lowered the muzzle of his submachine gun slowly.

"Sir, can you help us take a look at our companion's injuries?" Carl asked breaking the silence.

The middle-aged doctor glanced at Carl, who looked anxious, and finally walked to the side of the sleigh, and stretched out his hand to undo the gauze on Conon's face.

"Where did you get the injury?" The middle-aged doctor asked with a frown.

"Behind you," Markla said without any concealment, "my companion was overly curious, and he opened the door of that half-track armored vehicle."

The middle-aged doctor straightened up when he heard the words, "There is no great danger in the short term, but his eyeball needs to be removed, otherwise the other eye may also be blind. But you can see the situation now, our ambulance came out The problem is, I can't operate on him in this kind of place."

"Can he still start?" Wei Ran asked in proficient German.

"Do you know German?" The middle-aged doctor looked at Wei Ran curiously.

Wei Ran smiled, "I studied with a doctor named Rocky near the Moltke Bridge in Berlin for a while."

Hearing this, the middle-aged doctor's attitude improved a lot, and he stretched out his hand and said, "I'm Jason, a doctor from the 6th Medical Company, and the young man next to me is Flory, the ambulance driver I'm in charge of."

"Victor"

Wei Ran shook hands with the other party, and by the way introduced Makara, his son Karl, and Conon who had fallen into a coma to the other party. Of course, at this time, Conon was also from the Civil Guard.

"Doctor Jason, if"

Marka paused here, and then continued, "If you are still willing to believe us, I know a place where you can temporarily avoid the possible Soviet troops around you, as well as the coming blizzard."

"Blizzard?" Dr. Jason frowned. There were still several wounded in the ambulance behind him.

Marka looked at the goose-feathered snow wrapped in the strong wind, and said worriedly, "The snowstorm is coming soon, but what is more terrifying than the snowstorm is that there may be an avalanche in this canyon at any time."

Seeing that Dr. Jason was still hesitant, Wei Ran took the initiative to ask the young soldier next to him again, "Flory, is your ambulance still available?"

Flory shook his head, "The rock that fell from the mountain just now damaged the engine. Before you come, we are trying to disassemble the ambulance compartment and try to see if it can be converted into a sled."

Wei Ran turned to look at Dr. Jason, "You have the treatment technology we need, and we have the sleigh you need, at least before the Soviets surround us, how about we all give each other some trust?"

Dr. Jason glanced at Conon lying in the sleigh, looked back at the wounded in the ambulance, and finally gritted his teeth and asked, "Where are we going?"

Marka immediately replied, "There is a fork in the road about two kilometers ahead. We will enter another canyon along the fork. When there are wolves, there will be hunters going to hide."

"When we arrive at the hunter's lodge, I will operate on your companions."

Before Dr. Jason finished his sentence, Carl with an anxious face said immediately, "Then hurry up and send all the wounded in the ambulance to the sleigh!"

"Put any other necessary supplies in the car!" Markla added, beckoning to his son and walking towards the door of the ambulance.

Seeing that Dr. Jason had also gone to help, the young soldier Flory immediately put his submachine gun on his shoulder, and followed Wei Ran in no particular order.

Under the busyness of the crowd, a total of five wounded, together with some blankets, gasoline and medical supplies, were all sent to the sleigh.

"Are these the only ones?" Markla finally confirmed to Jason, but while speaking, he had already yelled at the reindeer and took a step.

"There's only so much left"

Jason, who was advancing on foot with a sled, replied, "The self-propelled anti-aircraft gun that escorted us hit a mine not long ago, and two people were killed. Now there are only so many left."

Compared with the few people who were paying attention to the casualties, Wei Ran's attention was all on the wounded who were sitting or lying on the sled.

Except for Konon who was unconscious, two of the other five wounded German soldiers had their faces covered with bandages, one had an abdominal injury and could only lie down, with a dark blue scarf around his head, exposing only a pair of eyes .There is also a left leg that has been amputated from the knee down, and the neck of the last one is tightly wrapped in gauze.

After careful identification, Wei Ran did not find the target of this trip, Yannick, from the two wounded people who showed their faces.

Finally, he glanced at the three wounded who couldn't see their faces clearly, Wei Ran followed along while pondering secretly, guessing whether there was Yannick among the three of them, and if so, which one was him.If not, when will he appear.

Before Wei Ran could come to a conclusion, the heavily overloaded sleigh had already turned into a fork in the canyon under the hard drag of the two reindeer.

This deep canyon is even more frightening than the one just now. The rock walls on both sides are almost straight up and down, and the snow attached to the top ten meters high seems to roll down at any time.

Under Carl's low-pitched reminder, everyone removed the magazines of their weapons and emptied the bullets in the chambers, so as not to cause an avalanche on the rock walls on both sides due to the sudden gunfire.

After walking along this winding canyon for a distance of about one or two kilometers, the terrain began to rise slowly, and the snow under the feet became deeper and deeper.If not everyone was wearing snowshoes or snowboards, most of their legs would have sunk in.Even the two reindeer's belly had touched the snow on the ground at this time, and this seemingly endless uphill road made it more difficult for them to move forward.

"The hunter's lodge is just above this ramp"

Markla grabbed the reindeer and said in a low voice, "Let my son Carl and my companions stay here, I will send some wounded and Flory up, and then come down to pick you up?"

Doctor Jason nodded without thinking, and waved to Flory to help lift a few lightly wounded people down and help the sled to reduce the weight.

"Leave this big guy behind too?" Flory asked Wei Ran in German as he lifted the rabbit fur blanket covering the anti-tank gun.

"Leave it first, it's still useful."

Under Wei Ran's translation, Markla pointed to the top of his head and said, "If someone catches up along this road, it can at least trigger an avalanche above our heads."

Jason waved his hand, "Then take it, speed up!"

Hearing this, Marka immediately shook the reins in his hand, signaling the reindeer to run up the slope with the sleigh cart that had been reduced a lot.

After the back and forth of the sleigh cart and the two hard-working reindeer, everyone finally left this scary canyon, hid in a small highland surrounded by coniferous forest in the middle of the mountain range, and successfully Inside, I found a log cabin that wasn't too big, but big enough to accommodate everyone.

(End of this chapter)